Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Abandoned Cemetery

Everywhere people have lived, people have died, and had their remains cared for. Cemeteries function as outdoor museums, teaching us about the lives before us.
Burials contain clues to the human past including settlement, subsistence, trade, and religious belief. The human remains in a burial tell only one part of the story. For all intentional burials, at least one person, if not many,were present to bury the deceased. These special places are a glimpse into the life of the individuals who settled and influenced our communities, and reflect the cultural practices and ways we care for others. Many rural cemeteries are all that remains of once thriving settlements and the hopes and dreams of these pioneers.
The African Methodist Episcopal Cemetery in Hobe Sound, Florida, is a small desolate and abandoned burial ground. The area is extremely neglected and overgrown. Once the site of a church that burned down a number of years ago, possibly by vandals, the cemetery is now the depository of unwanted refuse and a playground for neighborhood trail bike riders.
The few memorial stones are hard to locate, in poor condition, and some unreadable. Like other historic black cemeteries, headstones are rough cut stone with crude cuttings for the names and dates of the deceased. As is the custom, there are many exposed burial vault lids here.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers

About Me

Over six billion people walk this Earth. By the
time you have read this

passage another thousand will be born. There are
300 million Americans alone working, clamoring and striving to get ahead. Day
in and day out, millions ofthem
grab a cup of coffee in the morning, run out to the car with cell phone inone hand and kids in the other, and
find themselves on the road fighting swarmsof people doing the exact same thing.

In this frenzied race from oneplace to the next, few stop to notice
the

worldaround us -- not the worldof coffee shops, parking lots, and fast

food joints, but the natural world, theworld of shrubs, flowers, trees and

animals. In their haste, few see the old oaktree or Florida pine standing

beside the road, see the majestic
WashingtonianPalm and the
Bougainvillea in full bloom. They pass by these gifts from God andignore them in the never-ending rush we
call life.

This is what makesKevin Boldenow's work precious. He broke away from the
dimension of mania mostpeople are
stuck in and hasn't succumbed to its seduction again. Now, he isalways with his camera noticing the
world we ignore and stopping to capture itsessence. Like gathering proof that

indeed we live within more than concrete andasphalt.

His mastery with the camera preserves these
gifts, enhancesthem and

reminds us that there is more to life than
running to the nextappointment.